"Goin' Postal' essay gets student suspended

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 6, 1998

1998-05-06 04:00:00 PDT HALF MOON BAY -- HALF MOON BAY - The essays were supposed to get him an

"A."

Instead, they got him suspended from school.

In what is believed to be the first use of a new state law, administrators at Cunha Intermediate School suspended an eighth-grader for five days last month, claiming that his two essays for English class were "terroristic threats."

To the 14-year-old, the essays - entitled "The Riot" and

"Goin' Postal" - were just fiction.

"I don't see how they viewed it as a threat," he said.

"It was a class work assignment."

Now, the youth's parents are suing Cabrillo Unified School District, hoping to have the suspension expunged from his permanent school record.

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The case highlights the tension between an individual's right to free speech and the rights of society. Set against the backdrop of recent, tragic school shootings, it highlights the nervousness of school officials in these crazy times.

"There are kids who say they'll do something, and they do," said Doug Stone, spokesman for the state Department of Education. "I'm not saying this is another Arkansas, but principals are on heightened alert."

The suspension was based on a state law that took effect Jan. 1. It allows a school to suspend or expel a student for making either a verbal or written threat against a school official that could result in death or serious injury, even if the student does not have the intent to carry out the threat. The law, part of the Education Code, allows similar punishment if the student threatens to cause $1,000 or more in property damage.

School officials declined to comment on the specifics of the case. The family asked The Examiner to withhold its names to protect the youth's identity.

However, in deciding to suspend the boy, Principal Randy Chapin and Deputy District Superintendent B.J. Mackle felt the two English assignments, submitted in March and in April, fell within the parameters of the law.

Rage against school principal &lt;

In each of the freestyle, creative-writing assignments, the main character is a male student, and the principal is one of his main targets.

In "The Riot," a student named John is fed up with school rules. He's not allowed to wear his hat in school. He's not allowed to drink soda in class. The principal is on his back.

One day, John can't hold back his rage.

"All he can think about is the school and what it would look like on fire," his essay says.

John jumps up on the lunch table, shouting about "all the bull---- and oppression going on in school." The students share his anger and begin to riot, breaking windows, torching the library and blowing up the science labs.

During the bedlam, the students snag the principal and begin to beat him. John walks over with a baseball bat.

"The principal looked up at John and begged him not to hurt him," but John crashes the bat down on his chest. The students finish off the principal as John sits on the bench and "watched the show, enjoying every minute of it."

In the second essay, "Goin' Postal," a student named Martin adds a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol to his morning wardrobe. Once at school, he takes out a police officer, described as "the pig" ; the vice principal; and, once again, the principal.

Handcuffed, but blissful &lt;

As police take Martin away in cuffs, he is "smiling blissfully . . . having done away with the two people he hated most."

"Goin' Postal" was submitted about a week after two middle-school boys were arrested for a shooting in Jonesboro, Ark., that left four classmates and a teacher dead. The day after the Arkansas shooting, a Daly City boy was arrested on charges of shooting at his middle school principal. The bullet missed.

In an interview, the Cunha boy said that the two real-life shootings were the inspiration for his "Goin' Postal" essay. "The Riot," he said, "just popped into my head" after seeing a prison-riot scene in the Oliver Stone film

"Natural Born Killers."

Looking for "A' grades &lt;

Both stories, he said, were nothing more than class assignments that he hoped would earn him a pair of "A" grades. He did not intend them to be threats, he said.

However, like his main characters, the youth admitted that he did not like school, especially its rules. He felt his suspension was unfair, an abuse of power by the principal.

"I'm very anti-school," said the boy, who has since returned to class. "I mean, like, school is a good thing for you to go to, but there's a bunch of BS that I don't like."

For example, he said, teachers may drink soda in class, but students can't, a complaint he voices in "The Riot."

The boy's mother defended the stories even though she admitted that she did not like them.

"He's always writing about current news events," she said. "He questions authority, but he doesn't cross the line."

Meeting with counselor &lt;

After the youth turned in "The Riot," the English teacher had him meet with a school counselor.

"There was a lot of anger in the story," the mother said.

"What the counselor did not tell (him) was not to write another scary story."

The boys' parents decided to file the lawsuit in order

"to protect this child from harm" that an entry on his permanent school record may have on his future, the mother said.

But San Francisco attorney Emi Yuehara, who represents the school district, believes the officials acted within their powers.

"The district looked at the totality of the circumstances and felt it acted appropriately in taking the action that it did," said Yuehara. "The district has an obligation to take appropriate steps to provide for a safe educational environment for students and staff."

Providing a safe environment for students and staff was the impetus for the addition to the Education Code. The measure was introduced last year in the Legislature as AB 307, by Howard Kaloogian, R-Carlsbad.

Kaloogian introduced the bill to offer school districts more legal support when students make threats deemed to be terroristic. It was prompted when parents threatened to file a lawsuit to reverse the expulsion of their son from a San Diego high school, said Dennis Lhota, the assemblyman's spokesman. The boy had been expelled for making phony bomb threats.

Cunha case may not fit the law &lt;

On the face of it, the case of the Cunha student doesn't fit the bill, said Lhota.

The law "stipulated it had to be a direct threat against school personnel or property," he said.

However, Lhota added, it would be up to local school districts to sort out what they viewed as a threat.

Given recent incidents of students' bringing guns to schools and shooting at classmates and staff, he said, it's understandable that officials would be sensitive.

Balancing the rights of individuals with those of society is a delicate juggling act, said civil rights lawyers.

"The person uttering or writing the words has to intend that the recipient will think it's a threat," she said.

"It has to be unequivocal. It has to be unconditional so that the person who is supposedly threatened is convinced that he or she is in danger."

"This is a piece of fiction," she added. "It may be disturbing fiction" but, in her view, it is protected by the First Amendment.

In a court case last year, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of charges against a University of Michigan student who wrote fantasies on the Internet about the kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of a classmate, whom he names in his messages. To the judges, the messages did not constitute true threats under the First Amendment, and as such, were protected speech.